Feature on Lisa D Show

I enjoyed talking with Lisa D about my current show and work in architectural abstractions. 

Lisa D Show

Catching Light: the Art of Architecture at Evanston Art Center May 2018

Here's a short excerpt from our 20 minute conversation.

Lisa D: Tell us what we’re looking at your show at the Evanston Art Center

Heather: Catching Light is what I’m interested in. I work with glass because it catches light, because it shifts and shimmers and it’s dynamic in a way that’s pretty unique. At some point I realized there are these interesting lines and forms in the built world. As we move through the cityscape glass is shimmering and reflecting the natural world. I realized there’s a lot of overlooked beauty here that I wanted to explore. This show pulls together a lot of new work. I was able to do much bigger pieces for this show…

Lisa D: …because of big walls in front of big windows

Heather: …yes, and my work loves light. This is the perfect setting for my work.

Listen to the conversation.

Sneak peek!

New work is all ready for the Evanston Art Center show which runs April 28th through May 26th.  Large vertical pieces offer a big bold visual experience...almost like being there.

Reflect 3.0 | 30" x 48" | glass

Reflect 3.4a+b Hancock each 30" x 48" glass c Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 3.2 Chase 30" x 48" glass c Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 3.3 Mies 30" x 48" glass c Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 1.37a,b,c Catching Light each 24"x24" glass c Heather Hancock 2018 

Reflect 1.0 | 24" x 24" | glass

Reflect 1.39a,b+c each 24"x24" glass c Heather Hancock 2018

 

 

Catching Light: The Art of Architecture

Show at Evanston Art Center opens Sunday April 29th at 1-4 and runs through Saturday 5/26. 

Reflect 3.2 | Chase [urban mountain]  mixed media with glass | 30"x48" c Heather Hancock 2018

Glass needs to be seen in person. I hope you'll stop by the Evanston Art Center for the opening on April 29th at 1-4pm or happy to meet you there anytime during the month of May. 

Cityview | triptych in mixed media with glass

One goal for new work is to use multiple pieces to create a more expansive city view with varying levels of abstraction. The layering of buildings in city views fascinates me. We decode distance and depth and height from the rhythms of distorted geometries. I find these rhythms deeply engaging. In interaction with light, these elements shift and shimmer, offering a fleeting moment of urban beauty.

Reflect 1.37a cityview WIP | cutting glass Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 1.37 cityview WIP | cutting glass Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 1.37 cityview WIP | cutting glass Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 1.37a WIP grouting c Heather Hancock 2018

Glass really needs to be seen in person. I hope you can stop by the Evanston Art Center during the month of May to see all new work in the Reflect series. 

 

Catching Light: the Art of Architecture

Opening Sunday 4/29 at 1-4pm

 

Urban mountains | "Catching Light" show at Evanston Art Center

One of the ways I understand my Reflect series is as finding proxies for nature in the urban world. Architectural segments and surfaces interact with light and together with our motion through the city create rhythms and repetitions that I often experience as a mountain peak and canyon or leaf-filled forests or shimmering water.

Reflect 3.3 Mies | urban mountain WIP thin setting c Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 3.3 Mies | urban mountains WIP grouting c Heather Hancock 2018

Hope you can come see work in person at the Evanston Art Center. Catching Light: the Art of Architecture opens Sunday April 29th and runs through May 26th. I'm looking forward to hanging work in this light-filled contemporary gallery space.

Catching Light: The Art of Architecture

Upcoming show at Evanston Art Center

I'm busy finishing up new work for a show at the Evanston Art Center opening April 29th and running through May 26th. 

My current mixed media work with glass explores the experience of the built world. I came to my art practice via a career in healthcare. My approach to my work is rooted in my understanding of embodied cognition. Borrowing from the material vocabulary of contemporary architecture, Reflect brings the ubiquitous yet overlooked medium of glass into a conceptual dialogue about material, methods of making and embodied experience. Light reflecting on permanent architectural surfaces creates ephemeral moments of visual interest and discovery. Movement through the cityscape introduces geometric distortions and rhythms that engage our biologically rooted inclinations to decode information embedded in the geometries around us. In so doing, these architectural abstractions transform vast factory-made structures into familiar moments. Living well in urban settings requires new ways of seeing beauty and staying connected to the natural world.

Reflect 3.4 WIP cutting Heather Hancock 2018

New pieces for the show include a new larger 30" x 48" size and vertical proportion which offers a bold and more elaborated cityscape. Metal edging and a simple matte black frame gives a clean modern presentation of the work. 

Reflect 3.4 WIP thin-setting Heather Hancock 2018

Reflect 3.4 WIP grouting Heather Hancock 2018

Mark your calendar for April 29th 1-4 and come see all new work at the Evanston Art Center. Or happy to meet you there anytime during the month of May.

 

Reflect 3.1 | Mies cityview

30" x 48" panel | glass

Reflect 3.1 was commissioned for a residential setting and features an abstract view of Mies Van der Rohe's 900/910 Lake Shore Drive buildings. The clients selected a sophisticated palette of black and silver grays in the foreground, varied with pops of whites and pale gray in the background. Shimmering glass catches light to offer a dynamic art piece in this lovely architect renovated mid-century modern home. 

Reflect 3.1 | Mies cityview | glass  30" x 48"

Panel system: 1 5/16" strainer frame matte black with 11/16" anodized aluminum edging

Reflect 3.1 detail

Presenting at PechaKucha Chicago

I've got 6 minutes and 40 seconds to talk about my journey with light and glass at PechaKucha Chicago.

I'm presenting alongside 10 other Chicago area professionals including Maciej Kaczynski Architect, Studio Gang in Chicago, Garrett Karp Chicago Architecture Foundation in Chicago and Catherine Cox 4Seasons Global in Chicago. 

Should be a great evening. 

Catching Light

20 slides x 20 seconds each at PechaKuchaChicago 

Tuesday, September 5th 8pm | Martyrs | 3885 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL

 

 

 

 

Ideas. Stories. Art. Music. Social Activism. Food. Beer.

Tickets in advance are recommended

Grow | re-imagining urban spaces

Enjoyed working on a massive canvas for Evanston Streets Alive 2016 to offer pedestrians a moment of surprise. Grow transforms built world elements into organic, growing foliage. Realized in chalk, the piece offers an ephemeral experience, consistent with the constant change and transformation we find in nature. Living well in urban settings requires new ways of seeing beauty and staying connected to the natural world.

bike lane stencil | nature meets city

UrbanVines: nature meets city

I have an image of ivy growing on a crumbling concrete wall in my studio. I love the image of nature connecting with the built world; constant change and transformation happening on different time scales. I often circle back around to 'how do I grow ivy on a concrete wall?' Working on the installation plan for a temporary street intersection mural brought me back to cement board as a gorgeous textured canvas perfect for my work in glass. 

Nature meets city in UrbanVines.

UrbanVine 1.1 | glass and paint marker on cement board | 14"x14" c Heather Hancock 2016

UrbanVine 2.1 | glass and paint marker on cement board | 14"x14" c Heather Hancock 2016